ACCC says multiple supermarket and fuel retailers are trying to get out of their obligations to accept cash payments under new laws, writes Dale Webster.
SUPERMARKETS AND FUEL RETAILERS are trying to get out of obligations to accept cash payments under new industry codes introduced by the federal government, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has confirmed.
The ACCC says “multiple” applications for exceptional circumstances exemptions have been received from retailers in both regional and metropolitan areas, but none have yet been accepted or rejected.
A spokesman said today:
“The ACCC is assessing the exemption applications it has received and has not yet made a decision on an exemption application.”
The Cash Acceptance Industry Codes – heavily criticised by cash advocates for not going far enough and flawed exemptions that impact regional areas – were made law by the federal government in January without putting the changes to a vote.
A disallowance motion in the Senate that initially had the support of One Nation, the Greens, the Coalition and independent David Pocock was defeated in March after the Liberals and Nationals turned tail on their original commitment to support it.
Liberal Alex Antic was the only member of the Coalition to honour the pledge made by Liberal Senator Slade Brockman a week earlier, crossing the floor to vote for the motion.
The Cash Acceptance Industry Codes, administered by the ACCC, require certain supermarket and motor fuel retailers to ensure that customers have a reasonable opportunity to pay in cash for in-person transactions of $500 or less between 7 am and 9 pm.
Under questioning from West Australian One Nation Senator Tyron Whitten during Senate Estimates in December 2025, a Treasury official confirmed that affected businesses in towns without banks could be eligible for an exemption under exceptional circumstances provisions due to difficulties obtaining cash floats or depositing business takings.
The commission would not confirm the number of applications for exceptional circumstances it has received.
It also gave no indication of when a decision on the applications would be made, saying only that any exemption granted would be published on the Federal Register of Legislation and the ACCC’s website.
Dale Webster was named the Walkley Foundation’s 2022 Freelance Journalist of the Year and a Melbourne Press Club Quill Award winner. She writes extensively on banking and cash, and her research was the trigger for the Senate Inquiry into regional bank closures in 2023. This article was originally published on The Regional and has been republished with permission.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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